Holder for conically shaped cups



Dec. 8, 1953 A. TREFF HOLDER FOR CONICALLY SHAPED cUPs Filed Feb. 21.1951 INVENTOR.

kW/26.1% Mu a? W ATTORNEYS.

Patented Dec. 8, 1953 HOLDER FUR CQNICALLY SHAPED CUPS Alfred Trefl',Chicago, 111., assignor, by mesne assignments, to Reconstruction FinanceCorporation, Chicago, 111., a corporation of the United StatesApplication February 21, 1951, Serial No. 212,134

3 Claims.

This invention relates to holders adapted particularly 'for use withpaper cups of conical shape and it relates more specifically to a holdercharacterized by means for establishing a gripping relation with theside walls of the cup while in position of use to resist inadvertentdisplacement as an incidence to normal handling.

Paper cups of the type described find wide acceptance for dispensingliquid substances, such as cofi'ee, drinks, sodas, ice cream and thelike, at homes, at soda fountains, at picnics and at a large number ofpublic functions. As a result, it is desirable to make use of cups whichcan be discarded after a single use. Suitable low cost cups arepreferably formed of thin. wall paper stock, treated or untreated, torender the paper resistant to the passage of hot or cold fluids.

Such light weight cups having very little body are sensitive to windcurrents or other forces often encountered as an incidence to normal useand it is desirable to provide means in the holder for establishing asuitable gripping relation to prevent inadvertent displacement. It isalso desirable to embody in a cup holder of the type described, meansfor establishing the desired gripping relation responsive to movementbetween the cup and the holder while locating the cup in position ofuse. When such latter means are provided, it is possible to insert thecup in position of use as the holder is pressed downwardly over the endof an inverted stack of cups thereby to effect the assembly of the cupin the holder without the necessity of handling the cup.

A number of holders embodying gripping means have been placed on themarket but in practically every instance, the desired gripping relationhas resulted from indentation or substantial deformation of the sidewalls of the cup by pins, which provide point contact, or by fins orserrated metallic rims, which provide for line contact. In order toprovide for a proper gripping relation with holders of the typeheretofore produced, it is often necessary to efiect such deformation asmight lead to piercing or rupture of the side walls of the cup or suchdeformation as might mar the appearance or the utility thereof. In someinstances, especially with very thin wall cups, a gripping relationwhich relies. upon frictional contact has been found insufficientproperly to anchor the cup in position of use.

It is an object of this invention to produce a new and improved cupholder embodying means for establishing a gripping relation firmly toanchor the cup in position of use and it is a related object to providea cup holder of the type described for use with conically shaped cupshaving relatively thin walls.

Another object is to produce a holder for conical paper cups havingmeans for establishing a frictional grip over a substantial area of thecup located within the holder to anchor the cup therein with sufficientrigidity to prevent inadvertent removal without introducing excessivedistortion or endangering the ability of the cup for holding fluids andthe like. It is a related object to provide a holder of the typedescribed having means for gripping the cup intermediate its ends abouta number of spaced apart portions alone the outer wall of the cup whilein position of use so as to distribute the load while increasing theeffectiveness thereof.

A further object is to produce a holder for conical paper cups having along frusto conical passage through which the cup extends while inposition of use whereby substantial gripping relation is establishedcoupled with a guiding action properly to anchor the cup until ejectedfrom the holder by the application of outside force.

A still further object is to produce a holder of the type describedwhich is formed of relatively few simple parts easily assembled to forma low cost structure for use in anchoring discardable paper cups orcontainers without the necessity for handling the cups for placementinto position of use and without the danger of inadvertent removal whichmight lead to loss of the cup or spillage of the content material.

These and other objects and advantages of this invention willhereinafter appear and for purposes of illustration, but not oflimitation, an embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanyingdrawing in which- Figure l is an elevational view of the cup holderembodying features of this invention with a conically shaped paper cupanchored therein in position of use;

Figure 2 is a plan view taken from the underside of the assembly shownin Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken along the line 3-3 of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a view corresponding to that of Figure 1 with the holder insection in order to show the arrangement of parts;

Figure 5 is a fragmentary sectional view of the adapter forming part ofthe holder for establishing the desired gripping relation with the cup,and

Figure 6 is a perspective View showing a modified form of adapter.

As shown in the drawing, a holder embodying features of this inventioncomprises a base portion which receives a tubular body portion II inpartial telescoping relation with an upper end of the base portiondisposed within the tubular body portion being spaced inwardly therefromto provide an annular groove 12 adapted to receive an end portion l3 ofthe adapter M for establishing the desired gripping relation, as willhereinafter be described.

The tubular body portion ll. is inthe form of a relatively short tubularsection which is curvilinear in shape with the upper end portion l5being of slightly larger diameter than the lower end portion [6. Thebase Ill. has an outwardly extending flared out portion ll at the lowerend to provide a suitable rest when the holder is placed on a table topor other substantially flat surface. Integral with the upper and inneredge of the flared out portion H is an upright tubular section l8 whichis inclined inwardly so as to provide an. opening at the lower end whichis substantially larger than the span across the top portion 15. of thetubular member H while the opening at the upper end is dimensioned toreceive the upper end portion 15 of the tubular member in snugly fittingrelation. An inwardly extending flanged portion is integral with theupper edge of the section 18 provides a stop 7 against which the upperedge of the tubular body portion rests when one holder is stacked on topof. another and extending upwardly from the inner edge of the flangedportion 19 is another tubular section 20 dimensioned to correspond withthe opening through the lower end portion I6 of the tubular member ll soas to enable the corresponding end portions to telescope one into theother to the extent permitted by the flanged section l9.

Thus the tubular body portion is assembled onto the base portion. Thefrictional grip between walls of, the telescoping sections may besufficient to secure the parts together in their assembled relationwhile permitting separation for purposes of replacement, repair orcleaning. In the alternative, the parts may be secured together in theirassembled relation. by suitable joining means, such as by welding,riveting, screwing or the like.

An upper end portion of the base Ill disposed within the tubular bodyportion H when in the assembled. relation is formed to provide a shortinwardly extending flanged portion 21 and an upwardly extending lip 22to provide an annular groove ii! in the area between the lip 22 andtheside wall of the tubular member H. The recess or groove [2 is adapted toreceive the lower end portion l3 of an adapter 14 for establishing africtional grip with the outer walls of the conically shaped cup 23 whenin position of use.

The tubular. body portion H and base l0 should be formed of relativelyrigid material, such as of metal, plastics or wood. It is possible toform one section of one material while the other may be formed of thesame or substantially dissimilar materials.

The adapter l4, shown in the drawing, comprises a tubular section 25contoured to fit snugly against the inner wall of the tubular bodyportion II when the lower edge portion [3 thereof seats within thegroove I2. Extending inwardly from intermediate portions of the tubularmember 25 are a number of vertically spaced, horizontally disposedplates or shelves 26, 21 and 28 formed of resilient, highly flexiblematerial preferably having a high coefficient of friction, such forexample as rubber, rubber-like material, leather or synthetic resinouscompositions or the like. Aligned openings 29, 30 and 3! respectivelyare provided through the central portion of each shelf with the openingsdecreasing in diameter from top tobottom so as to define a frusto coni-vcal, shape; When the cup; member 23 is projected through the alignedopenings 25, 2! and 28, the inner edge portions of each plate adjacentthe openings will be engaged by the outside wall of thecupbefore the cupis in position of use. Continued relative movement to seat the cup inposition of use will cause the contacted edge portions of the plates tobe deflected downwardly with the cup and bring the top surfaces of therespective plates into frictional engagement with the outside wall ofthe cup. Thus the area of engagement will be vastly increased and theresilient forces developed function constantly to increase the grippingrelation between the cup and the holder plates. When, as it ispreferred, the openings are arranged so that a projection of the frustoconical shape defined thereby passes a short distance inwardly from theupper edge of the tubular body portion, it will be evident that theoutside wall of the cup will come to rest upon the upper edge of thetubular body portion whenin position of use to provide an additionalsupport and guiding feature.

The adapter may be formed as by molding into an integral unit of suchhighly flexible, resilient material, as shown in Figure 5, or it may bemolded of separate parts 25 and 25 having interfitting side walls 25 toprevent inadvertent relative movement when in the assembled relation, asshown in Figure 6. Instead, the tubular portion may be formed of rigidmaterial, such as metal. or plastics, and the shelves of highlyflexible, resilient material may be fixed to the inner wall in spacedapart relation. It is possible to vary the number of plates or shelvesbut it is preferred to make use of. two or more, so long as suflicientarea of contact is provided all around to distribute the force andminimize deformation of the cup while providing suflicient force to holdthe cup in position of use.

It will be manifest from this description that the parts forming the cupholder may be sepa rately fabricated and assembled in an economical andeflicient manner to provide a low cost yet sturdy cup holder. The holdermay be taken apart for purposes of cleaning, repair or replacement andit will be evident that cleaning in the assembled relation will not besubject to dangers occasioned by the availability of projecting parts.

In use, the cup may be placed in the holder and pressed down toestablish the desired gripping relation. In soda fountain use or thelike, the holder may be inserted over an inverted stack of cups and thenpressed downwardly onto the, stack. In either event, the apicaluppermost portion of the cup will pass through the aligned openings inthe adapter until deflected sufficiently by contact with the side wallsof the cup to provide areas of frictional grip which properly positionsthe cup within the holder and serves to anchor the. cup therein withsufllcient force to prevent inadvertent displacement. Upon removal ofthe holder, the uppermost cup is removedwithit in positionof use. Whensuch use has been completed, the cup may be removed and discarded byapplication. of force onto the apex of the cup from. the underside ofthe holder or by pulling the cup out of the holder.

It will be understood that a number of changes may be made in thedetails of construction, arrangement and operation without departingfrom the spirit of the invention, especially as defined in the followingclaims.

I claim:

1. In a holder for conical paper cups, an adapter for establishing africtional gripping relation with the outside Wall of the cup when inposition of use comprising a plurality of vertically spaced,horizontally disposed plates of highly flexible material having alignedopenings of gradually decreasing dimension from the top plate to thebottom plate, the portions of the plates adjacent the openings beingdeflected upon engagement with the cup as it is projected through saidopenings into position of use to bring top surfaces of the plates intofrictional engagement with the outside wall of the cup.

2. A cup holder as claimed in claim 1 in which the openings in theplates determine a surface of conical shape having a slope correspondingto that of the conically shaped paper cups.

3. A cup holder as claimed in claim 1 in which the openings in theplates determine a conical surface which is closely spaced from theupper edge of the holder when extended upwardly thereto.

ALFRED TREFF.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 395,409 Waters 'Jan. 1, 1889 1,957,263 Gray May 1, 19342,329,512 Clifford, Jr Sept. 14:, 1943 2,414,920 Amberg Jan. 28, 19472,467,712 Johnson et a1. Nov. 8, 1949 2,552,080 Amberg May 8, 19512,579,954 Kasman Oct. 9, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 9,676Great Britain Apr. 29, 1903

